Barbie and Ken 101 by Rafael Casal
This slam poem incorporates exactly what naive consumers face on a day-to-day basis. The narrator, Rafael Casal, addresses his concern about his girlfriend and how society has forced her to turn her familiar perfections into insecure flaws. "Barbie and Ken 101", in a literal sense is a classroom in which each student is taught how to fix themselves in order to fit the ultimate goal of being 'perfect' in an imperfect society. In more of a deeper sense this "Barbie and Ken" metaphor resembles how conniving the advertisement companies, specifically cosmetic and female focused organizations, are towards the weak, questioning individual. "Barbie and Ken 101, is a class we're all in but never seem to learn from," this summarizes precisely the point Rafael Casal is making about the foolishness of society. We strive to be skinnier, look prettier, feel healthier yet we don't learn from it, in other words, we all suffer from the effects of advertising but we never seem to do anything to prevent it. Like most teenagers I, too, suffer from the world of advertising but certainly after seeing such an abstract, brutal take on the subject I'm more aware about how it effects me and I try to prevent it as best as I can. By the end of his poem Rafael Casal decides to walk out of this brainwashed society no matter the consequence, so are more people becoming aware of this advertising epidemic or are more people being sucked into this "Barbie and Ken 101" world just to fit the new mold?
This was such a great video Johanna! It's so true and interesting and it really ties together a lot from our unit...the Barbie poem as well as "Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture".
ReplyDeleteI really like it, good job!
I just have to say, this post and this video are amazing! This perception of beauty as the "survival of the thinnest" is quite detrimental to our society at all ages (mostly women) and needs to be changed. It is hard to change because it is as if an aura has been cast over our society, brainwashing us to be only concerned with our looks, our image and having the perfect body. It even has damaging effects like anorexia and bulemia. Who knows when the madness will end? But Casal demonstrated that it only takes one person at a time to fight it--for instance, he walked out of Barbie and Ken 101.
ReplyDeleteI loved this video and thought the metaphor of barbie and ken 101 was great. It's so true that we as women growing up under the control of advertising feel the need to conform to society's view of the perfect person, a representative figure of this being barbie. I think this idea as Allie said ties into the Barbie poem, Ads Fads and Consumer Culture, and also into the Dove commercials we watched and the unit we did on women in advertising.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I unfortunately feel that Casal is an exception to the law. Casal witnesses through his girlfriend the pressure of the average woman to be at the demands of society. He sees the horror, and as all people should, rejects it. The important thing to note is that all he can do is witness the horror: he is not a woman and even with as much as he knows and his beautiful ability to capture the zeitgeist may never truly feel how a woman feels. (Of course, men face pressures that in many ways can be harder on them than on women.) When the average woman sees this, including myself, she thinks "it's not that easy." One woman alone cannot escape. If she attempts, society will only reject her for its own needs, not conform to her behavior. To truly reject society EVERYBODY needs to become aware. Unfortunately, that may just not be possible.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, this was an amazing video. I can easily say this was one of my favorite posts. The message behind Casal's poem was so clear and so accurate. It's horrifying to think about how we're so conditioned to think certain ways. We are constantly pressured to become the "norm" in our society, and that standing out is something we should always avoid doing. Casal goes into to talk about the dark depths of this "barbie and ken 101" school that we are all forced to attend. Girls are always reminded that they are not good enough, which obviously leads to damaging effects. It's almost impossible to escape this monster because it surrounds us all the time. It shouldn't be like this, and people let it happen. Although it's great to see that people like Casal exist, it's unfortunate he's in the minority and not the majority. Until there's more people aware of these types of issues, no changes will be able to take place.
ReplyDeleteI love this! Rafael Casal is actually my favorite poet and this video is how I found out about him a couple of years ago. I really love how he crafts words and really makes statements. One of my favorite lines are the last ones: "So screw all your teachings, your lessons and plans, you skewed, sick distant relative of the man. Your plan for brainwashing my baby I reject. I'm walking out of your class and I will proudly take my F." I have to admit, the first few times I heard this poem, I choked up a bit by how true it is and how revolutionary he makes it feel. It's not a topic that guys address with such emotion and such force.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jill that in order to effectively stray from this school of thought, the majority of people need to not only acknowledge it, but take action. It's difficult to accomplish and I don't think we'll fully reach that point because we're in so deep right now. It's easy to conform, but it's not easy to break the spell. It's actually ironic that both women and men are conforming and following the crowd in order to stand out, to have the best body to be the most famous. Can't you stand out by being yourself? It's like starting from scratch by changing yourself so much to fit a different ideal. Much like the Dove video, Onslaught, we're being fed by companies what we should strive to be.
On an unrelated note, if you haven't already heard it, I highly recommend Rafael Casal's A.D.D. which is also on his channel. It's my favorite poem of his and it gives me chills every time.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-2UnriOjVE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
To answer your question I think more people are realizing the effect of “Barbie and Ken” but are unwillingly choosing to do nothing. For years women haven been placed on a pedestal yet the real problem seems to have developed in the last 15 years as the media is overtaking our lives. this slam poem made me realize how varied our culture is. In some ways I became angry at Rafeal Casal because he kept repeating how being skinner is all that women are interested in, and I disagree. I do not think that being beautiful is everything but it does affect us in life. it is not possibly for everyone to become slobs and stop caring about what they look like in our world like Casal seems to want.
ReplyDeleteCasal's slamming was very awe-inspiring. What really struck a nerve in me was the line when he said "and now girls think skinny is a compliment". Not only is being called skinny a compliment, but it is a necessity for girls this day and age. Girls strive and strive to be what others called "normal" and yet they fail to realize what beautiful imperfections they are already blessed with. But what the most depressing part of this entire aspect is that how can our society adapt itself so that women can never ever be treated as they are now? How can civilization change so that women are not refered to as mere objects and "trophy wives", but rather a respectable human being? This is not a fad; it will not simply change in a matter of years but rather our whole society must commit to a responsible act of diverting this notion that women are more important and more highly prized that how they look.
ReplyDeleteThis gave me legitimate chills. Not only does Rafael Casal slam extremely well, but his feelings pinpoint exactly what is wrong with what society considers "beautiful." In response to Johanna's question, I think that more people are sucked into Barbie & Ken 101, opposed to walking out of it like Casal did. As younger generations are growing up with more technology and media focus on beauty, people are brainwashed from a young age about what is actual beauty and what is fake. It is harder for young people to realize that what they are being taught to value is not actually valuable and is only designed to capture their interest.
ReplyDeleteI loved this! Everyday more and more people realize the Barbie and ken game that they play, so why don't they do anything to stop it? The goal is to be perfect in an imperfect world. It is a paradox and it is impossible. Perfection changes with the times. By the time I looked like Marlyn Monroe, I should look like Megan Fox. Barbie is a timeless idea of being blonde and beautiful, but an idea is not real and can never really be reached.
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